FINISHER!

I did it! I finished my first marathon today! Here are my official results from the Madison Marathon:

bib number:	1683
age:	40
gender:	M
location:	Sun Prairie, WI
overall place:	1113 out of 1191
division place:	98 out of 103
gender place:	705 out of 736
time:	5:14:35
pace:	11:58
10k:	1:09:18
half:	2:28:25
mile 18:	3:30:06
chip time:	5:13:38

I lined up at the start with the 5 hour pace group and stuck with them for the first 13.1 miles. That first half went great. I had to use the porta-potty at mile 6, which put me a little behind them, but I ran with a couple of nice ladies from Maryland that also had to stop, and we caught the group at the 8 mile marker. Unfortunately they were talkers, which when combined with the faster pace, really sucked the energy out of me. Still, we did catch them, and then it felt like we were just coasting after that.

I decided to run up ahead a little, knowing that my family was meeting me at the half way point. I stopped to hug everyone and then jumped back in with my group. That was the last time I spent with them. All the extra effort of catching up, running ahead, and stopping took their toll on me, and the 2nd half was a different race for me. It wasn't horrible, but I had to accept the fact that they were pulling away from me and my 5 hour goal wasn't going to be met today. Still, there was never a point when I felt like quitting. I always knew I could finish, so I set a new goal to finish in under 5:14 (chip time, since it took me over a minute to get to the starting line after the gun went off), which would put me under a 12:00/mile average pace.

This was a TOUGH course for me. My quads went to hell during the lonely run through the hills of the arboretum, and I pulled my groin a little just like I did last year. I was ready for pain this year, though, and popped a few Ibuprofen tablets and battled on. I also got a nasty blister on the ball of my right foot, but while I was running it just felt tiny pebbles in my shoe that I just couldn't seem to shake out.

I took water and Gatorade at every stop and stayed perfectly hydrated. I also took Gu whenever it was offered, and downed every one of them along with every one of the 4 that I was carrying. I never felt nutrition or hydration was an issue for me. This was just the longest run of my life and my first marathon, so I took it all in, learned a few lessons, and I'll be more prepared for the next one.

I have to give a shout out to my wife and kids, my parents, and my sister's kids, because they were out there for me at mile 13.1 and they were there at the finish line. My kids even came out and ran across the finish line with me, which was one of those great moments in my life.

I also have to give a HUGE shout out to my wife for being so supportive of my training. My long run days were tough for her, but she never said much about it, and just let me go about doing my thing so I could be as prepared as possible. I couldn't have done this without her, and now I have to do the same for her as she trains for the Ragnar relay, which we're doing in about 12 weeks.

Thanks also to those of you who take the time to read my blog and post your comments. You've also been very helpful and supportive, and I just want you to know you are appreciated.

I WILL run another marathon, but probably not this year. There's a new one starting in LaCrosse, WI next may, and since that's my home town, so that will probably be the one. It will be smaller, and certainly won't be as well organized, but I'm sure it will be great fun, and I'm sure my sister and brother-in-law will be running it just as they did here in Madison today.

Weight Tapering Too?

Holy crap. As of today, I've lost 6 pounds since I started tapering. I'm not sure how this is possible, since I've been eating pasta, pasta, pasta this week, and various other carbs. I wonder if it's the fact that I'm not putting in the long runs that make me so damn hungry for several days afterward? Or maybe it's the fact that I've eliminated caffeine and reduced my sodium intake?

Whatever it is, I like it. That's 6 less pounds I'll have to carry around the marathon course on Sunday.

Reflections with One Week to the Marathon

It's only a week away! I came to the realization today that I can't believe it. I'm actually going to run a marathon! Most days over the course of my training that started in November I've asked myself WTF I was thinking when I decided to do this. I'm old. I'm heavy. I'm slow. Guys like me don't train for and run marathons. I guess that's what makes it so much sweeter that I'm actually doing it, and it's only a week away! I'm excited. Can you tell?

In a word, this week was AWESOME! I did a 6 miler on Thursday with a plan to do a 3-mile tempo at a 9:56 pace in the middle. I'm petty sure that was my best run since my training started. So good, that I ended up doing about 5 of the 6 miles at that pace. I just felt like a million bucks. I hurt pretty bad afterward (shins), but I was fully recovered by the time I went out for my "long" run of 8 miles today. This was another great run. During all of my long runs in the last couple of months, I've been employing what I thought would be my strategy during the race - running a little faster than my target pace and then walking about .1 mile every 1.3 miles or so, which is about the average distance between water stations on the marathon course. Today was different. I decided to run for 8 miles straight at my target pace without walking, and I felt better on this run than I've ever felt at this distance, and my pace was so consistent it was kind of like a slow tempo run. My target pace was 11:31, and here are my splits:

11:20
11:12
11:22
11:21
11:21
11:16
11:28
11:09

I think I actually ran the 2nd half one second faster than the first half!

For me, that's a pretty amazing 8 mile "long" training run. Maybe it would be a better strategy for the race to run with the 5:00 pace group and stick with them all the way through the race, running at about an 11:26 pace from beginning to end. We'll see, but what I do know is that after this week, my confidence is at a peak, and I actually believe I'll be able to finish the marathon, and doing it in less than 5 hours may actually be possible.

Now I just need to figure out what to do this week. I already know that I need to do three runs - 2, 5, and 2. What I don't know is how I should hydrate and load up on the carbs during the week. Time to do a little internet research...

TAPER TIME BABY!

I did it! I ran 20 miles today, and now I'm officially tapering until the marathon on the 25th.

The first 10 miles today went exceptionally well. I was actually surprised how good I felt at the half way point, when I stopped at home for a little relief and a refill of my fluids.

I took a look at my Garmin at mile 13.1, and the time was exactly 2:30, so I'm hopeful that I'll be able to finish the full marathon in 5 hours. Of course, at about mile 14 the wheels started coming off, and I just ran out of gas. Still, I was able to finish 20 miles in only about 8 minutes more than my 18 miler about a month ago, which was a nice improvement. I was trying to average 11:31/mile today, and ended up averaging 11:47, so all in all it went pretty well for the longest run of my life to date.

Some notes on my hydration and nutrition today: I bought a new Nathan hydration belt, which was a Godsend today. My old Fuel Belt holds 2 eight ounce bottles, which just wasn't enough for a run leg of 8 or more miles. The new belt holds 4 ten ounce bottles, and I filled all of them twice for today's run, and drank all of it. For each leg, I filled two with Gatorade Endurance, but put in only 2/3 of the powder called for on the can because I'm trying to keep my sodium down a little due to my wonderful new disease. I filled the other two with water. I also ate a gel packet before the run and then one every 40 minutes until I polished off the 3 that I was carrying. Then I switched to Cliff Shot Blocks and ate 3 blocks every 40 minutes until they were gone. I even polished off a bag of sport beans during the last couple of miles. I still felt like I ran out of gas at mile 14, so I'm probably going to carry more nutrition on race day just to be sure.

For some reason, everything I put in my mouth started tasting like crap after about 14 miles too, which was something new for me. Even the filtered water tasted horrible. I had a bit of a craving for Coke, so I'm thinking I might wear my belt on race day, and fill the bottles with Coke. We'll see. I know there are 19 water stops and that they offer water, Gatorade Endurance and Gu, but I don't know if they offer Coke.

Today was huge for me. I'm again hopeful that things will go well on race day. This week, my plan calls for an 8 mile interval run and a 12 mile long run. The week after that, I have a 6 mile tempo run and a 8 mile long run. Then, the week of the race, I have a 2 mile easy run, a 5 mile tempo run, and another 2 mile easy run. I've never done a taper before, so the next few weeks should be interesting.

Feel free to post any advice about what I should be eating for the next few weeks so I don't gain 20 pounds before race day!

From Bad to Worse

I thought things were as bad as they could get, and then last night my 7 year old son was playing catch and caught a baseball with his face, breaking his nose in 2 places.

Enough is enough. I haven't done ANYTHING to deserve all this bad karma.